Niveous Wisps Discussion

2 weeks ago

VaalVanir
Panic
work just fine for the deck because while it does require a combat phase, it can be used on ANYBODY'S combat phase. So it doesn't really matter. As long as it can be cast every turn it does its job. And if I was going to switch out
Heal
for anything than it would be
Niveous Wisps
, needing to tap your own creatures is kind of annoying tho. I believe it would be more likely for me to have BOTH of those cards in the future. but so far between the two, I've found them not all that different from eachother in usefullness. So I wouldn't fault anybody for using either. Unfortunately tho, switching it for a 2 mana draw spell is not worth it. The instant draw effect is nice, but it then also costs twice as much. So we can think about it as "Would you rather draw a card now, or draw 2 cards next turn. I personally would almost always go for two cards next turn. Especially when we are playing these draw spells on the enemy's turn more often than not, so it doesn't really matter when we draw the cards since there is a high chance we wouldn't be able to play the cards until our turn anyway.

And yes, having a more reliable way to get
Zada, Hedron Grinder
on the field would be nice, but adding a card that finds ONLY him is a bit much. Cards like
Goblin Matron
would be a lot more solid of a consideration if we had more goblin cards, like the
Goblin Welder
I am currently testing. But adding a card that works with only 1 of the 99 is doomed to fail, unless we can very easily find the other card (for example
Magnetic Theft
and
Sunforger
) So if you so end up trying out
Goblin Matron
I suggest you go a little harder into the artifact support cards and add things like
Goblin Welder
as well, at the very least.

2 weeks ago

I understand that you are looking for spells to cast to up the life gain from
Aetherflux Reservoir
but
Panic
requires a combat phase, and
Heal
only gives you a draw on the next turn.

May I suggest switching out
Panic
for another 2 cast cost instant that draws you a card, I can't recall the names right now. And switching out
Heal
for, maybe,
Niveous Wisps
or, again, another 2 cast cost instant that draws you a card.

2 weeks ago

Just curious how you’re liking cards such as
Mox Amber
and
Niveous Wisps
in your list? Are they restrictive at all in your testing?

I’ve been debating adding Amber to my own list just for additional colored mana; but the possibility of having a “dead card” in hand feels really harsh to me... however being able to drop it alongside Feather to have open protection also sounds decent.

As far as cards like Wisps,
Heal
, and
Bandage
go; are you getting your mileage out of them simply for the card draw? Or are you also getting use out of their abilities? I understand your reasoning for not using more combat oriented/ narrow cards such as
Psychotic Fury
or
Balduvian Rage
in the list; though I would be hard pressed to drop my Rage for anything due to just how potent double strike is on Feather.

3 weeks ago

After playing last night, I get the feeling that the deck is being pulled into too many different directions. My advice is to lean into the cantrip effects while protecting Feather and the other creatures, and try to win through combat as soon as possible. I think that the token subtheme is solid, but I'd chuck the redirect shenanigans. It would make for a good laugh when/if it finally goes off, but the combo is too fragile, too expensive, and takes up way too many card slots.

Assemble the Legion
- Another iffy card that I'd probably only run with the Purph package. It pretty much has to be answered or it will get out of control, but it takes time.

Skullclamp
- Plenty of tokens to draw cards off of. May already have enough card draw, if there is such a thing. Test to find out.

Bathe in Light
- Protection for likely many of your creatures, but no card draw, and it doesn't protect against board wipes.

Grand Abolisher
- We aren't a particularly counter-heavy meta, but I think this might warrant an include to protect from getting hit with a 2-for-1 destroy spell in response to your targeting your creature with a spell. This deck will be reliant on swinging hard every turn.

Duergar Hedge-Mage
- We have a pretty enchantment/artifact heavy meta, but if you are fast enough, it may not matter.

Runaway Steam-Kin
- Useful for storing up some red mana for those X spells, but there aren't many in the deck currently.

Sentinel Tower
- Iffy on this one, but I think you'll cast enough spells to make this valuable.

Graceful Reprieve
- ETB triggers/"Protection". Definitely better than Gift of Immortality in this deck, but you should be able to keep your creatures alive without needing this.

Teferi's Protection
- Dodging boardwipes is useful, but this may be unnecessary. No way of abusing Feather's ability here.

Gilded Lotus
- Colored mana rock, but with such a low average CMC, this may not be necessary relative to the cost.

Fell the Mighty
- Board wipe that will let you keep at least something of yours. Test to see if it is necessary. You may be able to outpace opponents without it.

Austere Command
- Value city. Likely to be used to wipe other threats while keeping your own. Test to see if it is necessary. You may be able to outpace opponents without it.

Chandra's Ignition
- paired with one of the spells that give protection or indestructible, and targeting a heavy hitter, you can wipe everyone else's creatures and keep your own. Might be too heavy-handed, but probably worth testing.

Bandage
- Card draw/possible protection. The protection seems a bit weak, so I'd only add it, if you feel that you're stalling out on card draw.

Heal
- Card draw/possible protection The protection seems a bit weak, so I'd only add it, if you feel that you're stalling out on card draw.

Out: 25

Crowd's Favor
- Not sure that it does enough to warrant a card slot, especially without drawing you a card.

Galvanic Blast
- Part of the cut redirect package. Little use outside of said package.

Liberate
- Currently, the only ETB effects in the deck are
Captain of the Watch
and
Stuffy Doll
's choose a player clause, both of which I would recommend cutting. It would synergize with the Purph package, but even still I'm not sure it warrants a spot, given all the protection you already have.

Lightning Bolt
- Part of the cut redirect package. Little use outside of said package.

Fabled Hero
- Basically, just a beater. I'd much rather proc the other Heroic triggers in order to get tokens to protect against forced sacrifice effects.

Firesong and Sunspeaker
- You have 1 white spell that can trigger this, and that is if you swords your own creature. You have 6 (cut to 2 with these suggestions) red spells that will gain you life. Using
Blasphemous Act
to gain a bunch of life is neat, but lifegain in Commander is often negligible due to commander damage, and with so few ways of actually triggering this card at all, it definitely doesn't make the cut.

Stuffy Doll
- Part of the cut redirect package. Little use outside of said package.

I'd also suggest to add some of the available Wheel effects for compensating lack of draw spells in Boros. These also synergize perfectly with
Smothering Tithe
, allowing for explosive turns. These cards are:

A question. Why do you have
Twinflame
? It doesn't seem to be a good card in this deck, as copying your commander, albeit rebuying you the spell, is then shut down by the Legend Rule, thus having you sacrifice one of the two between original or copy of
Feather
as a state-base action.

I would kindly advise
Hall of the Bandit Lord
, as it allows for very good plays you otherwise would miss: its only problem is that it can work only if you are casting for the second time or more your commander and use its mana for commander tax.
On the other hand, I would also suggest
Lightning Greaves
, as you could cast all your instants on the commander and at last equip the Greaves: it can be more of a nonbo than anything else, as it also cuts off combat tricks you could cast and is not removable from the commander unless you control another creature. You have a low creature count, so IDK, maybe not worth including.

1 month ago

Hey, fine version, other than the manabase :) Why would you copy a deck that had such a bad manabase? How do you expect to consistently be able to make mana cost for Feather with 14 Mountains? If budget is a concern then before adding expensive price cards such as Paradox and Recruiter use those funds for Boros dual lands?

Because of Feather's double white mana cost requirement than white should be the primary color and red the secondary color. low CMC cards are problematic when is more important. Cut Mountains for Boros dual lands and keep Plains.
Chromatic Lantern
does help with mana fixing; it's one of the best three drop mana rocks and if I was going to play a three drop mana rock I would play it over others. More white also makes white instants that draw better than red ones because you will have more white mana to use on your opponent's turns then red mana. Exceptions for red are: Expedite, C. Wisps, B. Rage, P. Fury. Consider adding the other white one drop instant draw:
Bandage
,
Niveous Wisps
,
Heal
?

Dreadhorde Arcanist
has nice interaction with Feather; they both benefit from pump spells. Arcanist is a way to get back an instant or sorcery from your graveyard that you cast when you didn't have Feather on the battlefield. You will not always have Feather on the battlefield and when this happens you still want to cast cards especially draw spells, but then they go to the graveyard. With Feather on the battlefield instants and sorceries you cast from your graveyard with Arcanist that target a creature trigger Feather's exile ability first since they're cast meaning they never go to exile after resolving. They go back into your hand at the next end step.

Knight of the White Orchid
is better land ramp then Cartographer, half the mana cost and first strike. Turn two Knight getting
Sacred Foundry
is helpful to cast Feather on curve. Double white mana cost shouldn't be a problem because you need it for Feather.
Swiftfoot Boots
is worth playing to protect Feather because unlike Greaves it gives the creature hexproof meaning it can still be targeted by you. If you like some of these suggestions I offer help to make cuts. Good luck with your deck.

Heroic/Prowess Creatures cuz value

these are some cards I think you should look at, don't need all and some might not fit exactly but if you like them then put them in. Cut some lands you can go down to 34 if you add in more artifacts, which go great with paradox engine.

Magic the Gathering, FNM is TM and copyright Wizards of the Coast, Inc, a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc. All rights reserved. This site is unaffiliated. Articles and comments are user-submitted and do not represent official endorsements of this site.